Crane Mishap in Scotland

A telescopic crawler crane tipped over rearwards October 19, 2018 at a site in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The crane, a 100 tonne LTR1100 owned by Hawks Hire, was working on the St James Shopping center and hotel redevelopment when it seems the operator had the tracks fully retracted, over the side with full 32 tons of superstructure counterweight in place, and then either raised the fully retracted boom to the point where the crane became back heavy and tipped or slewed into that position?

The crane does not have a 360 degree chart with the 3.5 meter track width. Fortunately, the crane was close to the building and the boom came to rest against the structure. No one was hurt – apart from the operators pride perhaps – and the damage looks to be minimal.

We have no information on whether the crane operator was employed by the contractor or the crane owner. And assume that it was in set up mode or a wider track width was programmed into the crane management system.

*UPDATE*

The following statement has been received from Hawks managing director Elliot Hawkins following a personal visit to the site:

“Hawks is currently working with the manufacturers and investigators to determine why the crane tipped over. We are grateful that no-one was hurt in the incident. At present it is thought an error occurred during derigging and rigging the crane resulting in it toppling over.”

“Friday and the days following the incident in Edinburgh have been a difficult time for both us as a company and for the individual operator. This is the first incident of this type we as a company have been involved in during our five years of operation, a testament to how seriously we take health and safety regulations on all the work we undertake.”

“The accident has been a big shock to the team working in Edinburgh and those at our headquarters in Dartford. At present we do not know the definitive reason why, or how the crane tipped over. We continue to support the operator, who has provided many years of loyal service to Hawks and will continue to help him in whatever way he needs to overcome the shock of being involved in this incident.”

“Once the investigations are concluded we will be able to comment further, but until such time we will not be making any further statement or answering any further questions that could prejudice the outcome of these investigations.”